Police seek driver in fatal hit-and-run

CARY – Police are asking for help in finding the driver in a fatal hit-and-run near Cary early Monday.

The victim was identified as 22-year-old John D. Fennessy of 609 S. Hubbard St., Algonquin.

The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office, and Cary police and fire district personnel were called at 3:29 a.m. to the 600 block of East Main Street near Newbold Road.

A preliminary investigation indicated a vehicle had been headed east on Main Street when it struck Fennessy and left. A second vehicle then drove over Fennessy, Undersheriff Andrew Zinke said. That driver, a woman, immediately called police and was not cited, he said.

“Right now, we’re looking for one vehicle that was involved in this accident,” Zinke said. “While there was a second vehicle that struck him while he was on the ground, that was after the initial accident took place.”

Fennessy was pronounced dead at the scene by the McHenry County Coroner’s Office. Zinke declined to comment on whether he was dead when the second vehicle struck him.

No description of the first vehicle was available, but debris found at the scene is being analyzed, authorities said.

Fennessy’s girlfriend lives in the area, Zinke said, and Fennessy may have been walking toward the corner of Route 14 and East Main Street to meet with some friends.

“We’re asking anyone who may have seen anything or know anything to contact us,” Zinke said.

The sheriff’s office phone is 815-338-2144. Information also may be given to CrimeStoppers at 800-762-7867.

Fennessy is the second pedestrian killed in a hit-and-run in McHenry County in less than a month.

Six-year-old Bryan Silva of Leland was struck by a car and killed Sept. 8 in the 4600 block of Franklinville Road near Woodstock. He was walking with his father and a sibling to their car.

Veramae C. Phillip, 83, of Woodstock was charged with failure to report a fatal traffic crash and leaving the scene of a fatal traffic crash. It was dark and rainy at the time of the crash, and police have said she believed she hit a tree branch.